Emperor in Love
by EmporerKuzco
Summary: When Emperor Kuzco has some unexpected guests, are they really all they seem? And how does that servant girl fit into their scheme? My first try at a romance TENG with little humor - a lead up to the up-coming 'Groove Tales' when I can be funny again!


Kuzco stood on the large patio balcony, basking in the morning sun. He watched the sun as it crept above the hills, casting beautiful shadows across the countryside. Kuzco sighed and smiled; it was so peaceful, just then a large tent being carried by four men could be seen coming towards the palace. The silence was broken by a sudden yell from that tent.  
  
"WHAT?" screamed the voice.  
  
Several birds perched on the ground and brush nearby flew into the sky from fright. Kuzco was awoken from his dream-like state and he swiftly called, "Nacara!"  
  
A very beautiful and petite woman appeared on the patio before Kuzco, followed by a short stout woman.  
  
"You bellowed, sire?" she said, saluting Kuzco.  
  
"Yeah…who is THAT?" said Kuzco, pointing at the tent, which now had a constant array of noises emitting from it.  
  
"Well sire, if I'm not mistaken and I don't believe that I ever am, that would be the grand priestess of Etharia and her daughter, princess Nadeal."  
  
Kuzco put his finger on his chin and said, "Right and………WHY are they coming here….exactly?"  
  
"Do you not recall? You are still in need of a bride…lucky for us, the grand priestess of Etharia offered you her daughter's hand."  
  
"Doesn't she want it?" asked the stout girl.  
  
"Want what?" Nacara asked impatiently.  
  
"Doesn't she wish to keep her hand?"  
  
"NOT GIVING HER HAND TO THE EMPEROR YOU FOOL! MARRYING HIM!"  
  
"Why would emperor Kuzco wish to marry a girl with only one hand?" the stout girl asked.  
  
Nadeal slapped her head and growled, "Come Atreal, we have already wasted a great deal of our dear Emperor's time."  
  
Nadeal dragged Atreal away, through the open French doors into the palace.  
  
Kuzco let out a sigh of relief, then he watched as the tent got dangerously close to the palace. Kuzco anxiously rushed inside the palace. A bad move on his part, since his bumbling assistant was waiting for him.  
  
  
  
"S-sire! Our guests of honor have arrived! Aren't we most fortunate they were located nearby?"  
  
"Why wasn't I told about this? I'm just getting over the trauma of marrying my SISTER! Now you want me to marry some tramp for hell-l-l-l-o-o-o" said Kuzco longingly as he watched a beautiful young woman shake her hair in the doorway.  
  
"Excuse me sire, but-" the assistant tried to speak.  
  
"Not now! Can't you see I'm busy?" Kuzco said, smiling at the girl.  
  
The girl looked at Kuzco and smiled cheekily. Kuzco opened his mouth wide and walked towards the girl.  
  
"C-can I show you around the p-palace?" he asked.  
  
Before the girl could answer another girl jumped into her place, whacking the beautiful young woman clear into the other room.  
  
"HI BIG BOY!" Exclaimed the woman, who was equally petite, but not quite as…easy to look at.  
  
"And who might YOU be?" Kuzco asked the girl, annoyed.  
  
"I'm Nadeal! PRINCESS Nadeal." She gushed, pursing her lips teasingly.  
  
Kuzco walked towards her slowly. Nadeal bent down and closed her eyes, waiting for a kiss. To her dismay, Kuzco got very close to her, but intersected to the next hallway.  
  
"I'll show you around…it isn't much, but…oh wait…it IS much!" said Kuzco, turning down a hall and out of sight.  
  
Just then, another woman appeared in the doorway. She was almost as creepy as Katinka or Yzma, but one thing was for sure, they wear similar clothes. She had a small purple dress lined along the trim with pink feathers. She also wore a huge hat with huge pink feathers sticking out the top.  
  
"Where is this Emperor?" the mother asked her daughter.  
  
"He's about to give us the grand tour…he went that way." She pointed.  
  
Kuzco's head appeared from down the hall, "are you coming?" he asked, annoyed.  
  
"Just one moment, Kuzco." She said, holding up one finger.  
  
"Oh! And bring that girl with you!" he said before disappearing down the hall again.  
  
"He wants to bring along a SERVANT?" she whispered quietly to her mother.  
  
"Never you mind…just keep Kuzco happy."  
  
"Well, he isn't exactly a charmer." She said, then she walked down the hall.  
  
As they reached the hallway entrance, the servant girl picked herself up from the floor and started dusting herself off.  
  
"Farea! You stay in the kitchen! No matter what the emperor says, you must remember you place." The mother said, pointing her finger right in Farea's face.  
  
"Now…go! Just remember! Me and my daughter are the ones with dignity and poise!" she said, turning around towards Kuzco.  
  
She took a step, but stepped on her heel sideways, causing her to fall flat on her face.  
  
Farea tried not to laugh, but she couldn't hold it in, so she quickly ran to the kitchen.  
  
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Farea ran down the hallway so she could get to the kitchen before laughing.  
  
  
  
Kronk stood on one counter in the kitchen, Treela stood on the other.  
  
Kronk began chopping carrots fiercely, while Treela washed dishes.  
  
"The emperor wants a big brunch today…he has special guests!" Treela said excitedly, "I'd so like to sneak a look at our guests."  
  
"Now Treela," said Kronk, "we must stay focused. Our task may be dangerous and thankless, but if we don't get brunch on time, no one will."  
  
"Aha!" said Treela, ignoring Kronk's mini-speech, "I'll take these wet dishes out to the dining room where Kuzco and his guests will be waiting! I'll simply explain that I was washing dishes and I wanted to sneak a peek at his guests, so I took these dishes and brought them to the dining room, where Kuzco and his guests will be, I'll simply tell them that I was going to explain that I was bringing these dishes to the dining room so that-"  
  
"Um…Treela?" Kronk said cautiously.  
  
"Not now Kronk! I'm devising my plan."  
  
"But…"  
  
"Perfect! Now I shall put it into action! I'm such a genius!"  
  
Treela picked up a load of plates and cups and attempted to walk to the door. She starting running from side to side, trying to keep the heavy load of dishes balanced.  
  
"WHOA!" she called, "KROOOOONKK!"  
  
When Treela was right in front of the door, Farea rushed in, knocking Treela down and making all the dishes fly into the air.  
  
"Hello" Treela said, pushing back a bang and trying to make a good appearance, "you must be Kuzco's guest! I'm so glad to meet you!" she said, standing up and holding out a hand.  
  
Kronk ran in the background, catching every dish as it fell. A cup on his foot, a plate of his knee, three plates on his arm, six cups stacked on his other arm and one cup handle caught in his teeth.  
  
"Oh!" Treela said, bending down to pick up one mug on the floor, "silly me dropping this! Here Kronk! Can you put this away for me?" Treela tossed the mug behind her at Kronk. Kronk got hit with the mug and him and all the dishes came crashing down. Luckily, Kronk got them on his stomach, legs, hands and arms.  
  
"I'm going to show the new guest around Kronk! Are you coming?" Treela said, door open, hand on the doorknob.  
  
"No! no, no, no, no, NO!" Kronk shouted.  
  
"ok…all you had to say was no….you're so rude sometimes!" said Treela, exiting the room, slamming the door behind her.  
  
SMASH! The slam caused all the other dishes to break.  
  
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""so?" Treela asked, walking down the hall of Kuzco worship with Farea, "where are you from?"  
  
"You know," Farea replied, "I'm not really a guest…I'm a servant FOR the guests."  
  
"What? I wasted that brilliant plan for NOTHING?" Treela said, angrily.  
  
Farea shrugged, "What plan?"  
  
"THE BRILLIANT ONE!" Treela replied.  
  
"Oh, THAT one." Farea said sarcastically, "I guess you wasted it."  
  
"Hey Treela!" Kuzco called from behind the wall of another hallway.  
  
Treela smiled nervously, "HIDE! QUICK!" she said to Farea.  
  
  
  
"And then I said to him, if you don't know why the drink is blue, don't sell the fish market!" said Nadeal laughing, as they passed Treela.  
  
Her mother laughed nervously and said, "Quite," then she took a sip of the tea she was holding, quickly.  
  
Nadeal sneered as she passed Treela…hired help was always more beautiful than she, so she had a great dislike for them.  
  
"That's funny." She said snidely, "I could swear I heard TWO voices."  
  
"Well, Ms. Princess woman you, no…I mean….in answer to your question, no! Or was that even a question? It could have went either way, huh? Pretty funny that way! Makes you kind of want to laugh in that way that you laugh….not that I was insinuating you have a weird laugh…I heard it down the hallway just a second ago and I think its quite nice."  
  
"You're lying." Nadeal flared her nostrils.  
  
"About what? You having a n-nice laugh, o-or the thing where I thought it COULD have been a question but maybe wasn't, but perhaps more than ever it was…perhaps, um…I'm just going to, uh, go then…so…bye." Treela zoomed down the hall out of sight.  
  
"I'm not quite FOND of that girl." She said tensely to Kuzco.  
  
"Right….and I'm sure I care." Said Kuzco rudely.  
  
"I got to see them! I got to see them!" Treela said, slamming the door to the kitchen.  
  
Kronk was sweeping up broken glass into the dustpan.  
  
"WHOA! What happened HERE? My, my Kronk! You've gotten quite careless lately." Treela said sternly, hands on her hips.  
  
"Yeah, well, you know…I….uh…hey, wait! It was YOUR fault." Said Kronk.  
  
"Oh, well then…" Treela put her finger on her chin and twirled her hair, "oops!"  
  
"Anyways….I just met Kuzco's guests! There's this really skinny psycho woman, then there's this really tense woman who needs twelve extreme hours of therapy just to get over someone sneezing near her."  
  
Just then, the door burst open…it was Farea.  
  
"Oh…hi! Where did you come from?" Treela asked.  
  
"I went into a door and…it was a beautiful room! It was filled with books!"  
  
"Yes…books are so fun! I open one and I just go like, WHOA! Wordy goodness!"  
  
"But…what about READING them?" Farea asked.  
  
"Are you crazy? Where's the fun in that? Besides, we're just servants…we can't read or write."  
  
"Y-you can't?"  
  
"I can speak squirrel!" said Kronk excitedly.  
  
Treela walked over to Kronk and patted him on the head, "yes Kronk…we know. Very nice."  
  
"And then…Yzma….oh that poor squirrel!" Kronk began to cry.  
  
Treela rested Kronk's head on her lap and rubbed him, "Shhh! Kronk, it's ok…it's ok now."  
  
"I'll…I'll be fine…I've just got to be strong." Said Kronk, through the tears.  
  
"Are you going to be ok?" Treela asked.  
  
"Yeah…yeah…I'll be fine." Said Kronk, blowing his nose with a handkerchief Treela handed him.  
  
Treela stood up and walked back over to Farea.  
  
"What?" Treela said, in response to Farea's odd look on her face.  
  
"Oh…oh…nothing." She replied.  
  
"So…how did someone like you learn to read?" Treela asked.  
  
"W-well…I'm not sure. I don't even remember anything about my past." She said.  
  
"Uh-huh…well, what's to remember, you're born, you die and in between, if you're lucky, you might find yourself eating chocolate cover…covered ladybugs…" said Treela, drifting off into a dream-like state.  
  
"Lady bugs? Ewwwww." Said Farea in disgust.  
  
"You DON'T like them? Every servant like them! They're probably the best thing you can get to eat when you're a servant."  
  
"Well…I've never had them, but they sound gross."  
  
Just then, the door burst open, in the doorway stood…  
  
"Atreal! Nacara! What a pleasant surprise! We were just…" started Taline.  
  
"JUST slacking off by the looks of it!" Nacara said angrily.  
  
"N-no…we were preparing breakfast." Said Treela.  
  
"That's not what it LOOKS like." Said Atreal.  
  
"We even have extra help! I'd like you to meet Farea, one of our guests servants…"  
  
"Be quiet you stupid girl!" snapped Nacara, "NOW…who is THIS." She said, pointing at Farea.  
  
"I j-just told you, Nacara…" Treela said.  
  
"Stop your little mind games! We're the head servants around here and DON'T you forget it!" said Nacara angrily.  
  
"Now get the emperor his breakfast!" Atreal commanded.  
  
"And don't you dare mess this up Treela! With a new girl in the picture, it's going to be even harder for me to marry the emperor."  
  
"O-of course…but isn't he marrying that young woman who arrived today?"  
  
"HER? HA! She's boring him to tears! That tricky little vixen! She doesn't even have the LOOK of royalty." Piped in Atreal.  
  
"We'll get breakfast ready at once, Nacara." Treela said.  
  
"Get it READY? HA! It should already be done!" said Nacara, waltzing out of the kitchen, Atreal followed.  
  
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"Nacara! Atreal!" Kuzco yelled, sitting at the dining table waiting for his food.  
  
Nacara and Atreal ran up to his chair.  
  
"Yes sire?" Nacara asked.  
  
"Ah good, there you are…I was just trying to make sure you were good and healthy for your first flying lesson."  
  
"Flying lesson, sire?"  
  
"Yeah! If we don't get breakfast soon, I'm going to throw you out the window!"  
  
"Good show sire!" cried Atreal, "a very commanding decision."  
  
Nacara gave Atreal a dirty look.  
  
"You too, Tubby!" said Kuzco casually.  
  
"In that case…TREELA! KRONK! BREAKFAST!" Atreal called.  
  
Treela appeared, carrying a six plates full of wonderful food, three plates on one arm, two on the other and a plate on her head.  
  
Kronk then appeared behind her, with another array of succulent dishes. Kronk accidentally stepped on the back of Taline's heel, causing her to trip, throwing eggs, bacon and orange juice all over Nadeal and her mother.  
  
"YOU…YOU IMBECILES!" Nadeal yelled, standing up from her chair.  
  
"Silence Nadeal…" her mother said trying to pull her back down.  
  
"HOW INCOMPETENT CAN YOU SERVANTS POSSIBLY GET? IS IT NOT ENOUGH THAT I PUT UP WITH THAT LITTLE TRAMP FAREA, BUT NOW YOU TWO?" she said, walking threateningly closer to Treela and Kronk.  
  
"Now, now Nadeal…let's not be two hasty." Said her mother, standing up and walking towards her.  
  
"I believe it is now time for these servants to return to their…er…servant place…" said Nacara, Clenching Treela's shoulders, pulling her back out of the room.  
  
Kronk stood there blankly, not noticing Atreal's attempts to pull him out of the room.  
  
"KRONK!" she yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!"  
  
"But what about breakfast?"  
  
"That's ruined, now COME ON!" she said, finally pulling Kronk out of the room.  
  
  
  
Once outside of the room, Nacara lowered her voice and said, "what do you two think you're doing?"  
  
"We were giving Kuzco breakfast." Kronk said.  
  
"if Kuzco thinks I don't keep my servants in line, it seriously depletes my chances for marriage to him."  
  
"And she IS getting married to him." Atreal added.  
  
"No she isn't!" Treela said, "He doesn't even like you…because…you're…um…mean!"  
  
"Be that as it may, so is our dear emperor…as long as I have servants who screw things up, I'll never be able to get near him. I need you to stop messing around so that I can devise a way to finish this old hack and her mother for good!"  
  
"You mean…"  
  
"That's right Kronk…they're going to give them the second course to the meal WE cooked." Said Treela.  
  
"You are so stupid!" said Atreal, "she's going to get rid of the Princess and the Priestess…get them out of the way, and Nacara will have a running chance again."  
  
"Kuzco doesn't even notice you…if he loves the princess, then there is nothing you can do about it."  
  
"It may appear that way to you, but it just so happens I have more tricks up my sleeve then you'd expect."  
  
"Uh…what sleeve?" asked Kronk, noticing she was wearing a dress.  
  
"OH ENOUGH! Go back to the kitchen…and keep that Farea out of sight! I saw how she looked at the emperor! That little hussy it out to get him for her own!" said Nacara.  
  
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"So, Kuzco…what's it like being king of the world?" Nadeal asked, sitting in Taline's old throne next to Kuzco's.  
  
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong…you are also a ruler of some tiny miniscule place…called…what, Ethiopia?"  
  
"Actually, it's called-"  
  
"That's besides the point, I really could care less where your little speck of dirt is located, all I care about is whether you're good enough for me, comprende?"  
  
"Of course! I assure you I am nothing like that Taline you married…"  
  
"How did you know about HER?"  
  
"Oh Kuzco! Everyone knows! When the king of the world marries someone, it's news."  
  
"Uh-huh…well…then I'm sure you've heard about this – I think you're the most undeniably ugly person I have ever come across…the end."  
  
"B-but…"  
  
"You heard me!"  
  
"But, I…"  
  
"Wow! Imagine that! Miss Ugly Pagent winner ten years running and she came all this way for me! How touching…NOW GET LOST!"  
  
"WHY YOU…"  
  
"Ah, ah, ah…no touchy." Sid Kuzco calmly.  
  
Nadeal couldn't hold back any longer. She raised her fist a gave Kuzco a sift punch.  
  
"Ow! You hit me! You touched my…my beautiful face…hit it no less! It will take weeks to wash the uglies out of it!" Kuzco whined.  
  
"Oh shut-up!"  
  
"No, YOU shut-up!"  
  
"No YOU!"  
  
"Wait! This just in," said Kuzco putting his finger to his ear, "YOU shut- up!"  
  
"YOU!"  
  
"YOU INFINITY!"  
  
"YOU INFINITY TIMES 100!"  
  
"Nope!" said Kuzco.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because, after you one infinity it sets right back to zero! Ha-Ha! I win."  
  
"Grrrrr."  
  
"That does it! We shall leave first thing in the morning!" said Nadeal angrily.  
  
"Yes you shall! Here, I'll help you pack your things…no…wait a minute…I won't." said Kuzco snidely.  
  
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"We're WHAT?" asked the Priestess as her daughter threw all her things into a suitcase.  
  
"That's right! We're leaving! First thing tomorrow morning."  
  
"But…we can't leave now! We're so close. You must give him a chance."  
  
"It's too late! The arrangements have been made."  
  
Nadeal finished packing her things and spotted some gold candlestick holders on the dresser…she put them in her bag.  
  
The priestess started taking Nadeal's clothes out again.  
  
"Aunt! Stop it!"  
  
"Shhh! Not so loud you fool! Do you want Kuzco to hear you?"  
  
"Why keep it a secret? The deal is off."  
  
"Kuzco still doesn't know who I really am…so keep quiet!"  
  
"Whatever Aunty. We're leaving tomorrow and that is final!"  
  
"But there might still be a way!"  
  
"Oh really…how?" Nadeal said, disbelieving.  
  
"Just leave that to me my dear…"  
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOK:  
  
So? This is sort of a lead up story to my next set of TENG stories, entitled "Groove Tales." They will pretty much just be short stories like episodes on a TENG TV show. Anyways…what do you think so far? I've decided to tone down the humor just THIS one time and let more of a love story take place…but not too much romance! ;-) Tell me which you like better. 


End file.
